Cultural

For 1,000 years before the invention of printing, writes J.J.N. McGurk, handwriting in its various European scripts was a fine art

J.J.N. McGurk describes how vanity and the ambitions of families and religious houses prompted the widespread invention of documents upon property and genealogy.

Kenneth Woodbridge describes the letters of Sir Richard Hoare, Banker, Goldsmith and Lord Mayor of London, to his sons.

Mollie Gillen describes how Queen Victoria’s father was a bibliophile as well as a military commander and a colonial governor.

Theodore Besterman describes everyday life for “the polymorphic chameleon, the omniscient polymath.”

George A. Rothrock describes how the age of Enlightenment was eager for secular, rational explanations of the world, and welcomed the scepticism of Diderot’s contributors.

A.N. Marlow describes how city-life in India, four thousand years ago, bore a striking resemblance to that of ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia.

Michael Strachan introduces one of the most conspicuous members of this celebrated Jacobean drinking and dining club centred on the Mermaid Tavern in London; the eccentric ‘legstretcher’ Thomas Coryate.

A.N. Marlow describes how, four thousand years ago, a remarkably advanced civilization flourished on the north-western plains of the Indian sub-continent.

Pepys hoped that his library would remain intact for the benefit of future ages. R.W. Ladborough describes how the diarist's hopes were realized; and the collection of books that he left behind him forms an impressive memorial to his rich and diverse personality.